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UPDATE: 12/3: Starlite on the Relight: Last nights Reunion and Benefit galvanized the community and proved that the Starlite was not just a bar- its a culture, a community and a movement to thrive again in their longtime home, Brooklyn, NY. See the update tab for more. Thanks to all of our backers we were able to celebrate reaching our funding goal. Thank you all. If you have not pledged yet you have until 2pm on Monday Dec. 5th to join this exciting effort and stay connected with us as we continue making this film and working with the Starlite owners towards reestablishment.

UPDATE: 11/26: Closing in on the Final Countdown! & Interview with Kate Kunath & Sasha Wortzel today in Next Magazine

UPDATE: 11/25: BLACK FRIDAY SALE! Why would you go to Bed Bath and Beyond today when you can stay in with your friends and family and support the Starlite Project from home? The "STARLITE IS IN ME" TOTE just dropped in Pledge price from $50 to $25! And check out our new backer rewards (Cristy C. Road prints, editing tutorials from Sasha and Holiday portraits from Kate) Stay tuned for new backer rewards all the time. We have 9 days left to reach our goal. Pledge Now before you forget!

The Starlite Project is a feature-length documentary film titled Starlite and an interactive website based on the making and the taking of the historic Starlite Lounge- the oldest black-owned gay bar in Brooklyn. The goals of the Project are to preserve the historic memory of the Starlite and
to counteract the forces which contributed to its closing. See how we are engaging with the community to identify critical issues at play in Starlite in this excerpt from a recent rough cut screening and discussion at the Guggenheim Lab. We are also committed to working with the Starlite owners to throw the first Starlite Reunion and Benefit Extravaganza which we invite you to be a part of...details to come...

Why should you join the effort?*

The Starlite is the legacy of visionaires in the community. We are thankful to those individuals such as founder Mackie Harris and previous owner William King a.k.a. DJ Butch, who worked tirelessly leading the way to provide safe, non-discriminating, and supportive spaces (with kick-ass parties) for the LGBTQ community, and its allies. This film is dedicated to them.

The film has already started a provocative conversation about place,
race, sexuality and gentrification. And perhaps the film asks as many
questions as it answers, but we believe that these conversations should
continue in our communities to better prepare folks for the onslaught of
development dollars, and to continue to challenge the powers that will
have places like the Starlite be no more. We also believe that the film
has a long life to live in the classroom as the education sector begins
to treat seriously LGBTQ history in America.

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It is possible to bring the Starlite back to the Crown Heights neighborhood and this film has the potential to activate that process. The community was disempowered by the taking of the Starlite. Our Project seeks to retool that energy by reflecting the Starlite back the community through the process of filmmaking.

In reaching concrete fundraising goals for the film through community and network support we will activate our collective power. That's why Kickstarter is such a great place for us to fundraise. Also, as support for the film grows so does the support for the re-establishment of the Starlite in Crown Heights. And we are working diligently with the owners towards this goal.

The Starlite is emblematic of resisting physical and historical displacement, and crossing boundaries to build strength. So let's do this together. Help us spread the word.

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The incentives for the pledges are to get folks excited about the
Project and raise money for the film but we see the supportive community
as a family-style network. We are asking you to pledge but we are also
asking you to participate in the community. And that's why we are extending an
invitation to our contributors to attend the Fall Starlite Reunion &
Benefit Party.

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If you've never been to the Starlite in Crown Heights, Brooklyn then we may have a harder time convincing you that a place like the Starlite is worth the effort and money it takes to make a documentary. But if you put your faith in us, and help us get this film made, we will deliver on our promise that it is a very special place which deserves its legacy in film.

Three primary goals of our first Kickstarter campaign

1. We've successfully completed the majority of our filming so funds will go towards a portion of our post-production costs which include:

online edit

sound mix

color correction

music composition

2. To begin development of an online site which will allow users to share content and mingle in the Starlite “Blar”. We want to create a unique online space, much like the Starlite, where we can continue to grow and expand individual and organizational support for the Starlite and its message.

3. To support community building and audience outreach (ie. screenings and parties) where the Starlite network/family can continue to stay connected in a physical space until the Starlite owners find a permanent location. The Starlite Reunion and Benefit Party will be hosted by the Starlite owners and produced in part by The Starlite Project. [All funds raised at this party will go towards the reopening of the Starlite. To give directly to the Starlite owners please look for their Indiegogo campaign set to launch at the Benefit Party.]

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Synopsis of the film and The Starlite Project

Starlite the documentary
(previously We Came to Sweat): SYNOPSIS

Founded on a principle of non-discrimination in
1959, the Starlite Lounge was a cherished meeting place for people of all walks
of life and famous for being the oldest Black-owned bar in the heart of
Brooklyn. Throughout enormous social change over five decades from civil rights
to gay liberation to AIDS activism, the Starlite Lounge has been a fixture and
central space in these movements. Just as the Starlite community has been
deeply affected by these waves of change, the bar has also felt the impact of
rapid gentrification in central Brooklyn. By following the eviction of
Brooklyn’s oldest black owned non-discriminating establishment, Starlite
illustrates the importance of social spaces in marginalized communities,
examines the complexities of gentrification, and demands that the needs and
desires of these communities are represented in the redevelopment of their
neighborhoods.

Starlite follows Linda and Dennis, the bar
owners, and their cousin, longtime community activist, Debbie, as they mobilize
support for the bar to remain in their current location. Though the impending
displacement weighs heavy, life inside the bar continues as usual. In the face
of controversy, the bar continues to provide a vibrant and celebratory social
space for a diverse community. During the day, the old-timers, straight and
gay, spend their days sipping drinks and socializing with friends both old and
new. In the evening as the old timers slip out, the bar transforms night by
night into multi-racial crowds at karaoke, intergenerational drag shows, or packed
gay house parties sweating it out on the dance floor.

Starlite explores the intersections of race,
sexuality, and gentrification through the documentation of a historic and
cultural institution on the verge of disappearance. The closing of the Starlite
Lounge means not only the loss of a neighborhood meeting place. For patrons
city-wide the Starlite is a family, a legacy, a safe haven, and a living
history of the LGBTQ community.

The Starlite Project:
SYNOPSIS (encompassing Film and Website/Network)

Just a decade prior to Manhattan’s Stonewall riots, across
the bridge in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, Mackie Harris had a vision for his
neighborhood. He wanted to create a safe non-discriminating establishment for
him and his gay Black community. Opening its doors in 1959, the same decade as Brown
vs. Board of Education, Harris became one of New York’s first gay black
business owners and is credited with starting a safe space that would endure
for generations.

But last summer his bold experiment came to an end. Hundreds of fans from eras
past gathered in an all night celebration to bid their final farewell. How does
an institution like the Stonewall survive, but the Starlite cannot? Who decides
what cultural and historic landmarks are preserved and what memories can be
erased?

The Starlite Project seeks to remobilize the existing community through a
documentary film and interactive website. While creating a participatory living
history of one of America’s most important and overlooked landmarks the Project
also creates enormous potential for social change by mobilizing, expanding a
diversifying the Starlite Social Network. Actionable user generated content and
documentary film vignettes will encourage users to comment, share and discuss
the multiple issues at play in their community, which led to the closure of
their beloved meeting place, such as institutionalized homophobia and racism,
and a lack of representation in urban development. By engaging the community in
identifying their own issues the Project advances its objective to empower the
people.

The Starlite community is a network characterized by trust, love and intimacy,
composed of patrons, employees, friends and family. In the language of social
networking these connections are called strong ties. While these are crucial
for mobilization and identifying issues, weak ties- friends of friends,
visitors and strangers- are best at focusing on those issues, such as educating
small business owners on how to monitor urban planning bodies, and finding the
most innovative ways to prepare them for when the rush of “redevelopment”
dollars floods their community.

The Starlite Project is a networking strategy which joins the dense Starlite
Network with weak-ties to produce the coordinated action that leads to social
change. As the tertius iungens (or “third who joins”), The Starlite Project
throws a bridge over the river from the Starlite’s strong-tie network to
crucial weak-ties by facilitating network expansion. In unlocking this
potential online, it becomes possible to build a more engaged and active
movement to defend and expand non-discriminating institutions offline,
advancing a more just and tolerant society.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $10 or more
About $10

One custom Starlite STICKER we hope you'll make stick to help spread the word
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AND
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A cordial invitation to the STARLITE FALL 2011 REUNION AND BENEFIT EXTRAVAGANZA in Crown Heights, Brooklyn (In order to receive this invitation you must allow us to email you with updates before funding ends).

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $25 or more
About $25

One free download or DVD of the FINISHED FILM.
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AND
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A cordial invitation to the STARLITE FALL 2011 REUNION AND BENEFIT EXTRAVAGANZA in Crown Heights, Brooklyn (In order to receive this invitation you must allow us to email you with updates before funding ends)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $50 or more
About $50

The "STARLITE IS IN ME" tote bag
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AND
*
A cordial invitation to the STARLITE FALL 2011 REUNION AND BENEFIT EXTRAVAGANZA in Crown Heights, Brooklyn (In order to receive this invitation you must allow us to email you with updates before funding ends)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $50 or more
About $50

TWO TICKETS to the New York or Los Angeles PREMIERE of the film
*AND*
A cordial invitation to the STARLITE FALL 2011 REUNION AND BENEFIT EXTRAVAGANZA in Crown Heights, Brooklyn (In order to receive this invitation you must allow us to email you with updates before funding ends)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $50 or more
About $50

One copy of the finished film on DVD for yourself and one copy as a gift for someone else.
*AND*
A cordial invitation to the STARLITE FALL 2011 REUNION AND BENEFIT EXTRAVAGANZA in Crown Heights, Brooklyn (In order to receive this invitation you must allow us to email you with updates before funding ends)

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $50 or more
About $50

One hour video editing tutorial from our very own talented co-director Sasha Wortzel. To increase your hours just increase your pledge amount ($50/hour). A great gift for the creative special someone in your life who wants to learn Final Cut Pro.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $100 or more
About $100

*11x14 inch black and white PHOTOGRAPH of the exterior of the Starlite Lounge from the closing night, July 31, 2010. (*series of 50, photographed by Kate Kunath), and Free entrance to the Starlite Reunion and Benefit Party in Fall 2011

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge $100 or more
About $100

HOLIDAY PHOTO SESSION with co-director and photographer Kate Kunath. Right in time for the Holidays! Make a family portrait, a vanity portrait, a gay wedding portrait! (Only 5 sessions available between December 6-18). Digital high res files only. You make the prints!